Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., announced Thursday that he will introduce a bill in May to raise the minimum age to buy tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, from 18 to 21.
McConnell, whose state is one of the biggest producers of tobacco, cited the rise of youth vaping in calling for the measure.
“We all know people who started smoking at a young age and who struggled to quit as adults,” he said in a statement. “Unfortunately it’s reaching epidemic levels around the country,”
McConnell’s planned legislation comes as the Food and Drug Administration is cracking down on e-cigarettes, including with a blanket ban of flavors that appeal to teens. Raising the legal age, McConnell said at the Thursday press conference, is key to stemming the youth vaping epidemic.
McConnell said that a recent survey showed an increase of high school seniors did not know their vaping products contained nicotine, and believed they were just inhaling flavoring.
Tobacco industry stocks, including Altria, which owns a large share of Juul Labs, have dipped as the FDA has increased regulations of all tobacco products and marketing tactics to teens. This downward trend is also expected to deter investors, out of fear of further FDA restrictions and scrutiny.
Kentucky has some of the highest cancer rates in the United States, and leads the country with 34% of cancers tied to smoking. McConnell said he was concerned not only that vaping disrupts brain development, which is complete at 25 years of age, but also that vaping could lead young people to try harmful drugs.
